Startup Devyce, a UK-based SaaS company that provides digital phone numbers to multinational businesses, has closed a 拢2.2m ($2.7m) seed funding round.
The money will be used to drive its ambition to create a global mobile network for business using its own mobile network operator licence.
Founded by three London-based entrepreneurs in 2020, Devyce supplies businesses of all sectors and sizes with mobile phone numbers that can be used by their employees anywhere in the world using WiFi or mobile data.
A 鈥榞raduate鈥� of Y Combinator鈥檚 Summer 2022 accelerator cohort, Devyce鈥檚 funding round is led by Y Combinator alongside Garage Capital (backers of Substack and Vendr) and FoundersX Ventures (investors behind Moonshot Brands).
Individual investors also participated in the round, including John Kim, founder and CEO of Sendbird, and Ryan Chan, founder and CEO of UpKeep.
Nick Browne, co-founder of Devyce, said: 鈥溊暇牌凡鑕s are continually up against it to find cost efficiencies, while creating more hybrid working environments for their people.
鈥淢obile devices, whether used for calls, messages or video meetings, are an essential tool for doing business.
鈥淒evyce makes it easier and cheaper for companies to help their people make best use of the devices they already have at their disposal, wherever they are located.鈥�
A digital phone number requires neither its own SIM card or handset to operate. Instead, a business customer assigns Devyce phone numbers to employees that they can use on their personal handsets.
This significantly reduces the burden of managing multiple work phone numbers, contracts and handsets for employees who might be located all over the world, while still enabling businesses to see call stats, analyse staff performance and integrate AI-generated call summaries into their CRMs.
Devyce phone numbers can be silenced outside of work hours and have their own voicemail systems, helping employees keep their personal and work lives separate without having to charge and carry two handsets.
Devyce鈥檚 co-founders are majority owners of a mobile network operator. By allocating numbers from this operating network, Devyce can reduce costs for its customers by as much as 70 per cent while maintaining attractive margins for its investors.
Helen Liang, of FoundersX Ventures, added: 鈥淥wning their own mobile network puts leagues between Devyce鈥檚 founders and their nearest competition in the digital telecoms market.
鈥淚t is a money-can鈥檛-buy asset, as internet companies globally know having tried and failed to create mobile networks of their own.
鈥淒evyce on the other hand ploughs on, able to offer unmatched low costs for an essential service that every company globally can鈥檛 do without.鈥�
Mike McCauley, of Garage Capital, concluded: 鈥淎s more organisations globally embed flexible, hybrid or entirely remote working policies, there is an urgent need to accommodate cost-effective communications infrastructure among employees who may be located across multiple countries.
鈥淒evyce helps companies cut costs while keeping their teams connected and working productively. We鈥檙e excited to support Devyce鈥檚 founders and their team as they expand business in the UK and replicate their unique opportunity in markets across Europe.鈥�
Devyce鈥檚 monthly recurring revenue grew by 144 per cent in 2022. The company is headquartered in London with a team of 11 based throughout Europe.
The investment will be used to bring Devyce鈥檚 product into new European markets and expand its product engineering team.